How Kosovo becomes
the paradise for criminals and extremists of all kinds

UN
And Other Organizations In Kosovo Harbor KLA Criminals

D.W.
is an UNMIK Police Officer in Kosovo. His identity is known to Reality
Macedonia, but for his personal safety, it will stay unrevealed.

Interviewed
by Irina Gelevska

Reality:
There are opinions that the UNMIK Police is not very effective in
fighting crime in Kosovo. Some UNMIK police officers are stopped in
doing their job. Can you tell us by whom and why?

D.W.:UNMIK
Police is not very effective for a variety of reasons. The most obvious
problem is that the citizens of Kosovo (all ethnicities) don't always
cooperate with investigations or simply don't report crimes as they
happen. As an example, the Albanians are still somewhat suspicious
and fearful of any police authority because of the events that occurred
before the war and Serbs generally do not believe UNMIK to be a legitimate
authority.

A
bigger problem is the police themselves. When I left the mission,
36 countries were contributing police officers to the mission. Each
country has different methods of policing and each individual officer
have different skill levels. For example, American (North American),
British, German, French (Western European in general) and Russian
officers have a very good understanding of modern police methods,
but our Indian (Asian sub-continent in general), Nigerian (African
in general) officers are years if not decades behind. I had to train
some of my less fortunate colleagues the very basic principles of
modern police work as practiced by the West.

Another
issue is time spent in the mission. Americans were generally expected
to commit one year to the mission, while other countries would only
allow their officers to stay 6 or 9 months. The UN will only allow
officers to work in any mission up to three years. In my case, I could
have stayed two more years, but I was needed at home.

Another
factor is who is running the police operation. While I was there,
Sven Fredricksen was the Commissioner of Police and it was his opinion
that there were no problems. The most recent commissioner at least
recognized that there is an organized crime problem.

Some
officers were stopped from doing their jobs. In one case, my station
was investigating a man named Kadoli who was a close friend of Hashim
Thachi. Kadoli was involved with operating a parallel government structure
in the city where I worked. This government structure was involved
with forcibly evicting people out of their homes using their own police
who were former members of the UCK military police (PU). They were
also collecting taxes illegally and operating various other schemes
to collect money for PDK, Thaqi's political party. Kadoli was involved
in a very unfortunate incident where he threatened to kill the local
UNMIK administrator and became very violent because has was asked
to move his office out of the Municipality building. I had the unfortunate
task of informing the investigating officers that the Kadoli investigation
was to be closed. The order was given to me by my station commander
and I can only assume that he was also ordered to stop the investigation.
Who made these orders? I do not know.

Reality:
Is it true that UNMIK Police stop cooperating with the police organizations
from other countries in the region for criminal investigations? That
even sometimes UNMIK Police does not give any information of wanted
criminals from Kosovo to other police organizations? Can you give
us an example? Does that mean that UNMIK Police is protecting the
privileged criminals?

D.W.:We
were not able to cooperate with other International Police agencies
for a variety of reasons. The most important was the relationship
between UNMIK and INTERPOL. By treaty, the only authorized INTERPOL
office in Yugoslavia was in Belgrade. The Serbian government had no
interest in helping us, so UNMIK had no access to INTERPOL. Because
of this, according to UNMIK, we could not legally access other international
police agencies for information and in turn, they could not ask us
for help.

I
remember one case where a Swiss military police officer observed a
car in town with Swiss license plates. The officer called the Suisse
Police in Switzerland and discovered that the car had been reported
stolen. The MP's seized the car and arrested the driver, a TMK officer.
Through the KFOR chain of command, the MP was ordered to release the
driver and the car because he (the MP) had "illegally" accessed
the Swiss Police database.

I
know of another incident where some Italian police officers stopped
a car near Orahovac that was occupied by Akim Cheku and his bodyguards.
An armed standoff commenced when Cheku's bodyguards took defensive
positions around the car armed with automatic weapons. The Italian
officer's were ordered by the regional commander (a German) to release
Cheku and his men. The regional commander seemed to know what was
happening as it was happening. This incident was not discussed at
any staff meeting I attended, so I don't know where the orders came
from.

Reality:
There have been cases when UNMIK Police did not cooperate with KFOR
troops during weapon search operations. You were witness to Austrian
KFOR soildiers who were refused help by the UNMIK.Can you tell us
more details?

D.W.:
We were working with Austrian KFOR troops find and destroy weapons
illegal caches that we believed belonged to UCK/KLA/TMK. With the
help of surveillance aircraft, we located three bunkers that contained
thousands of mortar rounds, mortar tubes and thousands of rounds of
small arms ammunition. All of these items were destroyed in place
by KFOR, but we (UNMIK) were ordered not to assist in these operations
anymore. It is my understanding that the orders came from the Police
Commissioner's officer in Pristina. We were told that it was for our
safety and that these matters were more military in nature and of
no concern to the police. I was told by an Austrian KFOR officer that
they were also ordered not to perform this type of weapon search,
but I cannot confirm if this order was actually given or not.

Reality:
Have any weapons or men in the NLA in Macedonia come from Kosovo during
the conflict?

D.W.:
I assume that most, if not all of the weapons came from Kosovo and
I know that there were UCPMB training operations in eastern Kosovo
before the problems started in southern Serbia and Northern Macedonia
before and during the outbreak of violence. These camps were frequently
raided by American KFOR units and weapons and supplies were seized.
I also know of weapon shipments that were intercepted by KFOR in the
mountains north of Tetevo long before the problems started. I assume
that these weapons came from KLA/UCK stores, but they may have come
directly from Albania.

Reality:
What is UNMIK Police doing with the arrested persons handed over by
KFOR? Do UNMIK Police release them after a while without raising any
criminal charges against them?

D.W.:
In my station most of, if not all of the persons arrested by KFOR
and released to UNMIK police were taken before the local prosecutor
and judge. I know of two incidents where KFOR arrested Hashim Tachi's
brother after searching his residence. Both searches revealed illegal
weapons and large amounts of money. One case involved DM500.000. On
both occasions, KFOR released the arrested person to UNMIK police
in Pristina and both times UNMIK police were ordered to release him.
I was told that SRSG Bernard Kouchner ordered the release.

Reality:
What is your opinion of KPC? Most of the members of KCP are ex-members
of UCK. Did they fit well into the civil organization as KPC?

D.W.:
TMK/KPC is the military arm of PDK. Thaqi, in my opinion, controls
KPC. KPC is a very corrupt organization that has no interest in rebuilding
Kosovo. Most of the members that I was familiar with were only interested
in filling their pockets money and carrying guns. My early experience
with KPC involved evictions. KPC personnel were evicting Kosovar Albanian
civilians from there homes so that the UCK "hero's" could
move in. Because KPC is composed of mainly former UCK members, in
my opinion it is still a terrorist organization.

Reality:
What is the connection of the KPC commander general, Agim Cheku, with
crime gangs in Kosovo?

D.W.:
I believe that Cheku is a major figure in organized crime in the Balkans.
Unfortunately, I have no evidence to support my opinion.

Reality:
There are rumours that Hashim Thaqi is also involved in criminal activities
in Kosovo. Can you add anything to that?

D.W.:
Thaqi's involvement in organized crime seems obvious, but again, there
is no direct evidence. Thaqi's position as a high ranking UCK officer
would lead one to believe that he as intimate knowledge of the UCK's
activities before the war, including drug trafficking. It is also
very obvious that opponents or enemies of PDK have been assassinated
and such an order would come from Thaqi. I am embarrassed that my
government recognizes this animal as a leader.

Reality:
In your opionin as a police officer, what is the worst crime in
Kosovo: guns, drugs running, prostitution, man slavery or something
else.Do you think that in any time in Kosovo there will be Law and
Order?

Law
and order in Kosovo may never be achieved. The policies of the UN
inherently interfere with effective police work and many of the International
police officers are not qualified to do this kind of work. They try
very hard, but the task is too difficult. The International community
in Kosovo is not able to handle the task either.

Some
Americans believe that the crisis in the Balkans is a European problem.
Those of us that have lived and worked in the region realize that
stability in Eastern and Central Europe as well as near Asia is at
stake. If the region is allowed to crumble, the security and stability
of the entire area will crumble as well.